The United States today has fewer people working in manufacturing than it had in 1941 before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the rush to produce weapons. But not all U.S. manufacturers are shadows of their former selves. Case in point: New Balance, the Boston-based athletic shoe producer.
The company has 1300 manufacturing employees working in the U.S.–the highest headcount in its 108-year history, says President and CEO Robert DeMartini. And it’s exporting twice as much product as it was two years ago.
“Rising labor costs in foreign markets and consumers’ demand for customization have given companies like ours new incentives to make things closer to consumption,” DeMartini told The Daily Ticker. “We have an opportunity right now to reinvent how things are made, and make them here, in the U.S.”
About one-quarter of the athletic shoes New Balance manufactures are produced in the U.S. The company has invested heavily in manufacturing processes, focusing on efficiency and moving into advance manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, says DeMartini.
“Investment and innovation is key…[and] the government could encourage that…through tax breaks or investment breaks for developing technologies on our shores.”
Read more about lean manufacturing and see original video/article at http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/making-things-matters–why-the-u-s–should-encourage-more-manufacturing-here-at-home-205936994.html
